Movies part of Cable’s motivational tool box

Interesting nugget from right tackle Langston Walker Monday when talking about how and why Tom Cable has the Raiders in control of their own destiny in the AFC West with seven games remaining in the season.

Cable is movie buff, and some of his favorite flicks have made it into the routine of the practice work day.

“Not yet. I’m sure it’s coming, though,” Walker said. “He’s big into that and that’s his way of motivating us. He’s got great speeches and he’ll come in and put some statistic up or a phrase up and just end it. And you sort of carry that with you all day. I think this team is starting to reflect coach Cable.”

Cable said he came up with the idea in training camp, where he said that at one point or another, he had dinner with every player on the team. One of his questions was, “What’s your favorite movie and why?,” and Cable said, “the videos kind of come from that and they’re just a thought for the week.”

His own favorite movie?

“Miracle,” the Disney-made movie of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team, which, by the way, had a remarkable performance by Kurt Russell as coach Herb Brooks that compares favorably with any other acting job in sports movie history.

When asked about the perception among many outsiders that it’s Al Davis who calls the shots and if that had any impact on the players, Walker shot for the stars.

“That’s always what is going to be said around here,” Walker said. “Al Davis could be shot to the moon and be on a moon trip and they’d probably still say he’s running things from Mission Control. Al watches film incessantly. I’m sure he’s got something to say about it. He runs the team.

“But we’re winning, so who cares? It’s a bigger issue when we’re losing and you wonder about the weird things that go on. It doesn’t matter. We’re above .500 and in first place. President Obama could be (calling) the shots.”

— Still more Walker . . .

“Coach Cable does some things that really make you think without having to say a damn thing,” Walker said. “Some of the things he puts up in the locker room _ he doesn’t acknowledge it or say anything about it. _ but they show us when’s the last time we had success this team.”

Early in the season, Walker said Cable asked him to stand up along with Shane Lechler and Sebastian Janikowski because they were the only three players who had experienced the playoffs as a Raider.

“I didn’t really think of it like that, but as soon as he did it I was like, `Wow. It’s been a long time,’ ” Walker said. “There’s a lot of guys who have been here for awhile and they haven’t tasted success in silver and black.”

— Left guard Robert Gallery has long been a Cable guy, his career as a left tackle going nowhere until a new line coach arrived with Lane Kiffin and shifted him to guard. Like every coach in the NFL, Cable sends mixed messages at times through the media, guarding information and sometimes being misleading for a competitive advantage or to adhere to a company line.

In the locker room, it’s another story.

“When you have a consistent message every time, some people may take longer than others to believe it, but everybody buys into it,” Gallery said. “He’s never said something and done something else. You learn to respect a guy that stays by his word. That’s the big thing with him.”

— The Raiders are gratified to be associated with first place, technically tied atop the AFC West with Kansas City but with considerable advantages in terms of tiebreakers that don’t come into play until the end of the regular season.

“Whatever we’re going to accomplish, it’s in our hands, and we control it,” Cable said. “We don’t have to have someone’s help or any of that. We just need to go back to work, cut it loose and go to work. We’re getting to where we understand what that is. Just stay the course and do that.”

“We’re in first place, but we didn’t play yesterday, so I don’t want to say by default . . . I want to beat Pittsburgh so bad, because that not only solidifies us in first place, but people are really going to really start talking about us for playoff contention,” safety Mike Mitchell said.

Mitchell visited family in Kentucky during his time off, familiarizing himself with a DVD of Pittsburgh’s offense on the four-and-a-half-hour flights while going and coming. He came home as a contributing member of a winning team, as opposed to a struggling rookie not getting much playing time as was the case a year ago.

“Everyone’s just real happy. Everyone wanted to talk about it and say, `Hey, you guys are playing real well,’ ” Mitchell said. “But really it just kind of brought me back down. We’re only halfway. Everyone’s real excited and you don’t want to let them down. Really it just got me refocused, ready to come out here and keep making everybody proud and work hard.”

Kiffin deserved to be fired, Davis deserved bore responsibility for making the mistake of hiring him in the first place.

— There has never been any hard evidence linking Miami to quarterback JaMarcus Russell, only unattributed reports the Dolphins were checking out the former Raiders quarterback after they lost Chad Pennington and Chad Henne against the Tennessee Titans.

That brought a handful of Tweets and a few e-mails from Raider fans anticipating the possibility of Russell suiting up or even starting when the Dolphins visited the Raiders on Nov. 28.

More evidence that Cable has a good hold on this team and that the players respect him. Call him a monkey, post his coaching record, do what you will, but he is the right coach for this team.

MVTARaider

Bring on Russell…. I’d love to see that sack of @#$% with his face in the grass….

Go RAIDERS!!!!!!!

Silver & Black Forever…

Just Fire Baby

I would say that the odds of Jamarcus Russell just being sober in his tryout today were close to 50/50

HayesDaze37

MR — I came back specifically apologize…you can stop hyperventilating.

I misspoke…I didn’t get mis-quoted…I meant to say, and should have typed that no coach has said publicly that those things occured. I won’t say they deny it happened, that’s an entirely different thing, and not what I meant.

So, there’s your pound of flesh. Now, you’d have something to cry about, if I defended my misspoken words…but I cannot and will not. I said it incorrectly, and have stated my position clearly now. Take a breath.

Just Fire Baby

Cable said he came up with the idea in training camp, where he said that at one point or another, he had dinner with every player on the team.

Hayes, thank you for correcting yourself and being honest. I guess there’s no hard evidence out there that Al truly meddles, but when several people say something is true, and the counterargument is all over the map, I’m inclined to believe the several people. Even in a court of law you don’t need hard evidence to convict someone. You just have to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. If 50 people from 50 different walks of life, who have no association with each other or any common organization, say that someone ran a red light, he ran a red light. You don’t need any more proof.

Kirk

I have a couple of movies that will motivate the Raiders.

If they lose on Sunday, they have to watch “Steel Magnolias” and “Out of Africa” back to back.

That should motivate them!

17 Bob Trey O

“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”

Sorry, just had to, ya know?

HayesDaze37

What’s this??

Another Raiders player saying that coach Cable has got the team behind him, and on-board with his tactics?

Tom Cable’s doing a fine job so far…if it mattered, he would be Coach Of 1/2 Year, but even that won’t quiet his critics. That’s somewhat understandable, too…because this team hasn’t done anything for a full season yet.

But, the attitude change he has affected in the locker room is a great start. Just ask another player.

Vick IMO is playing the best brand of QB in this league he is starting to put his hnads on that MVP trophy if he keeps it up.

Several laughed when I said he was as good if not better than Elway but IMO I would take him over Elway I just think what he’s doing now I’ve never seen Elway play like this. Now he has to get a lot more done in terms of getting hat team to the playoffs and beyond but he is well on his way.

BHP — If Vick keeps playing like this — IF — he will be a great QB like Elway was. Even with his flashes of brilliance earlier in his career, he wasn’t a great QB. Right now, Vick is in the handful of best QB’s in the NFL — and definitely MVP candidate material.

priesttj

Speed and the ability to connect is an awesome thing. Trust me when DHB is runng by fools they aint gonna be thinking he’s running clearouts not with that GUN under center. Now if they know the QB can’t hit him deep they may lay off. But JC can get it there they MUST respect it.

HayesDaze37

And, they definitely don’t want Vick scrambling TOO much…they need him on the field. He’s spectacular, but only human.

armond

thats exactly why im not a big jc or grads fans. vick is playing the best ball of any qb. produces tds with no to’s. his speed is back and he is a pocket passer when needed. damn im jealous. philly would be dumb as hell to let him walk. anybody that prefers any of our qbs to him is just stupid.

edward teach

I would buy a ticket to a game I didn’t even care about just to watch Michael Vick play football. That guy is a special talent.

HayesDaze37

Right again, BHP — They must respect the deep threat DHB provides…and one deep connection early will set the tone. Even a deep miss will back them up a step…nobody wants to be burned like we just witnessed. Stretch the field and pound the rock. In either order, but with equal doses of kick-a$$.

JLofty

Good job Cable.Keep it up! No second half letdowns. No bs, just win baby!

100PercentRaider

It took a prison term to get Vick to realize his potential, but its beginning to look like he has and it is scary.

100PercentRaider

Eagles on pace for 1080 yards tonight

raidersfannc

Vick is money tonight, and this year for that matter, I dont think anyone in here would say they would rather have grads or jc as the qb over Vick. Probably the same way they wouldnt say we would rather have grads or jc over either manning, or brees or A rodgers or tom brady. very obvious we dont have an elite qb, would be scary if we did with our defense we have right now.

raidersfannc

I dont like Vick as a person, I have three pits and cant understand why anyone would ever enjoy watching dogs fight, or the torture stories of how they killed the dogs. But as a fb player, his abilities can never be argued.

JLofty

Dang….Cable’s so good he even has Vick “cutting it loose”!

McNabb looks odd in that Redskins uni. what a shocking double-standard that the “squeaky clean” NFL so called leaders still allow the Washington DC NFL franchise to call themselves red skins. That is unbelievable hypocrisy. I don’t offend easily and haven’t a shred of native American blood in me but that is hella offensive to me. Maybe they should change their name to the Bullets. At least that had SOME charm and merit.

raidersfannc

elbow is out of bounds

100PercentRaider

Common theme between the Raiders beatdown and the Broncos beatdown…they both lost to SF in their previous game. Apparently losing to SF emberasses your team into improvement

mcthompso

Speaking of Vick…

I’ve been a Virginia Tech fan my whole life. His freshman season was one of the most jaw dropping, exciting things I’ve ever witnessed while watching sports. Going to the Tech games [Mike] Vick QB’d was some of the coolest experiences of my life. Seeing that type of play out of him really takes me back

beach

The Steelers are a paper tiger. Hit em in the mouth and they will give up. Their offensive line is weak and I want to see Big Ben get his ars handed to him! GO RAIDERS!

Violent Hands

I am Tom Cable.. and i see a whole squad of players that are here in defiance of niceguys

Youve come to fight as Raiders….and Raiders you are

Aihhh fight and you may die,run and you will live….and dying in your beds many years from now,would you be willing to trade all the days,from this day to that…for one chance just ONE CHANCE!!.. to come back here and tell our enemies…that they can take our lives…but they cant take our Freedom RAIDERRSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

tuckrulefool

Gradkowski/Campbell starter flip-flop anyone?

““When you have a consistent message every time, some people may take longer than others to believe it, but everybody buys into it,” Gallery said. “He’s never said something and done something else. You learn to respect a guy that stays by his word. That’s the big thing with him.”